Siemens and Atos are collaborating to develop a digital twin system for the pharmaceutical industry. The “Process Digital Twin” system incorporates IoT, AI and analytics technologies, and is currently being tested by a major European pharma manufacturer.

Based on the pilot study, this new system could enable sustainable process development, reducing overall experimentation time and waste, ensuring constant quality and moving to new “quality by design” models to get the product right the first time. The solution also offers optimised measures for process quality and reliability.

The new system is the result of the pharmaceutical company currently running the pilot needing to simplify and reduce its manufacturing processes. The Atos-Siemens alliance built the new system in collaboration with the manufacturer. The “Process Digital Twin” is a complete virtual replica of a specific step in the manufacturing process, connected with IoT sensors installed on the actual plant.

Tne process digital twin system generates volumes of complex data and gives an instant view of all details of the operations. By pairing virtual and physical representations of the process, and using predictive models and real-time analytics, Atos and Siemens aim to help the pharmaceutical industry to reinvent key elements of the manufacturing environment.

Contributions from Atos included its Codex expertise in AI and IoT solutions and services. The new system also incorporates Siemens Digital Enterprise expertise in OT systems for Pharma, notably with Simatic Sipat for real-time quality monitoring and StarCCM+ & HEEDS for process modelling & simulation.

“We are delighted to bring digital technologies to the heart of the global pharmaceutical industry, helping it meet the multiple health challenges of today and tomorrow.” said Paul Albada Jelgersma, SVP, global head of Codex Services for IoT & Siemens Mindsphere at Atos. “With the Process Digital Twin developed by Atos and Siemens, a solid digital footprint of pharmaceutical products is created throughout the process development cycle, starting from the design phase, all the way to production.”

“Digitalisation at every point along the value chain will likely help the pharma industry get pharmaceuticals from the lab to the patient more swiftly.” said Rebecca Vangenechten, head of Business Pharmaceutical Industry at Siemens. “This was a challenging journey where the partners created the basis for future process development & manufacturing, based on science, technology and innovation”.

The nature of Atos and Siemens’ pre-integrated Digital Twin solution allows it to be deployed to production processes of any scale or complexity. By adjusting the technological building blocks Atos and Siemens can replicate Digital Twin use case to every new client – within pharmaceutical, chemical, process manufacturing industries and other markets – more efficiently.